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Corporation widens tax net

Coimbatore Corporation’s financial report card for the first half of this fiscal ending September 30 looks good.. The property tax collection has improved and so have the dangerous and offensive trade licence collection, and vacant land tax.

According to Commissioner G. Latha, the property tax collection, a major source of income for the civic body, had already crossed 50 per cent for the current financial year. Starting April 2013 there had been a gradual increase in the tax collection after she had asked the bill collectors to collect arrears and bring in new assessments.

After a series of meetings with officials in all the five zones, she had fixed targets for the bill collectors. Those who had performed poorly were pulled up and asked to pull up their socks. As a result, the collection had increased by more than 10 per cent — the average growth rate in revenue for local bodies.

Likewise, the collection under the dangerous and offensive license had also gone up after she had asked the sanitary inspectors to widen the license net by bring in at least one new assessee a ward a day.

Deputy Commissioner S. Sivarasu said that following the instruction the sanitary inspectors had managed to increase the number of assessments by 111 on October 10, 91 on October 09. And for other days the number was more or less the same.

Ms. Latha said that the Corporation had accessed the list of industries available with the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, Coimbatore, to identify those business and industrial establishments that were outside the D & O license net to serve ‘e-notices’ on them.

The number of notices thus far issued had crossed 10,000, she said and added that as when the business and industrial establishments respond and then comply, the collection would further go up.

Recently the Corporation increased the number of trades covered under the D & O license by more than 85. Mr. Sivarasu said the Corporation was also keen on improving the vacant land tax collection.